


We Don't Need to Tell You

by jacobby



Series: How to Save the World [1]
Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Family Drama, Family Fluff, M/M, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 06:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10588761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacobby/pseuds/jacobby
Summary: Tony Stark discussed very important 'dating' matters with his sons Billy and Tommy, and it went, maybe, not as bad as he expected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> sooo this was supposed to be a one-shot i wrote while travelling, but since travel hours were too long and i got too bored, i already thought up of backstories for the characters. eeeeeeh then it turned into a series which will made of one shots revealing their lives, their pasts, etc etc. 
> 
> a bit of a warning: there are mentions of dying and deaths--although not emphasized--somewhere there so if anyone's not comfortable just tread lightly

“It’s really nice of you to stop by, boys. It means a lot to your dad.”

Tony knew it was a long time coming. The air was cold, but he insisted they take a walk. Anything but sitting stagnant in the dining room or the living room with vacant and judging stares. He didn’t think his sons would judge him, not really. But having received too much judgment from other people had deemed him wary, a little overprotective of himself although he didn’t consider himself at all that fragile. Just uncomfortable when it happened.

Tony was walking with them, arms around their shoulders as they pass under the trees, yellow and orange leaves falling as the breeze hit them.

“Of course, Dad,” Billy said first, shivering even underneath his dad’s embrace. “Besides, you seemed a little freaked out over the phone.”

“Kinda freaked me out, too. What was that about?” Tommy this time. They paused beside a bench, but the Tony didn’t make any move to sit.

He only shrugged, unsure of what to say that wouldn’t cause his sons unease. They had always been concerned about him, even when their faces were too young for worry lines.

“Is everything okay, Dad?” Billy asked, voice giving off a bit of a tremble.

“Oh my God, are you dying?!” Tommy gave Tony a bit of a shake on the shoulder.      

“No!” Tony spat a bit too quickly. “No. At least, I don’t think so? But no, I’m not dying.”

“Is _Ty_ dying?!”

“Tommy! Shut up.” Billy punched his brother on the shoulder. “You’re not making this any better.”

“The only thing that dick is dying from is his incessant assholery which I hope will choke him to death one day.” It’s been five years since the divorce. Three years since Tony got his life back together again. “But no, Ty’s not dying.”

“Dying to death is a little redundant there,” Billy pointed out. “But I guess that’s good news? I mean, that both of you aren’t dying, that is.”

“I guess.”

“So that rules out you guys getting back together,” Tommy said with obvious relief.

Shit. Had Tommy been thinking that the whole time?

“Sorry, baby.” Tony cupped his son’s cheeks in reassurance. “Never. Alright, kiddo?” Tony offered a smile. Ty is never coming back into his life even if he’s being threatened with a bomb exploding in his face.

Billy cleared his throat. “Um,” he started, scratching the back of his head. “We had lunch recently, with Teddy. Kept probing me for anything about you and Tommy. It was uncomfortable, and I barely kept up with the conversation. Didn’t want to. You’d be proud of me, Dad. He brought along a new girlfriend and everything.

“It was brutal. Asked why he was suddenly _Ty_ and not _Papa._ I almost had an outburst in the restaurant,” Billy recalled, a tug at the corner of his lips. “Teddy had to physically restrain me so I didn’t do anything in the parking lot.

“So Ty’s still Ty, I see.” Tony wrapped his arms around Billy, who leaned into the hug and pulled Tommy along. “I’m sorry, boys. But—Ty. He isn’t your papa. Maybe for a while, he was. Not anymore. Never again. That I can promise you.”

“He texted me too, y’know. Said I should join you both if I had the time.” Tommy’s voice remained monotonous. “I—sorry I wasn’t there.”

“It’s okay, bro.” Tony let go of them then. Billy took the opportunity to give Tommy a kiss on the cheek.

“Ew,” Tommy said, but didn’t flinch from it. Billy grinned at him.

“So what _are_ you gonna tell us, Dad?”

Tony took a deep breath and placed a hand on each their shoulders. The silence seemed to have gone on forever. His sons cocked both their heads to the side.

One. Two. Three. Four. “You’re adopted?” Fuck.

Billy made a face.

“Oh my God.” Tommy was covering his mouth, face scrunched up and eyebrows furrowed. “How could I possibly have seen that coming?”

“C’mon dad, just spit it out.” Billy was tapping a foot, arms crossed and mouth twisted as if he is pain.

“Billy! We’re adopted? How—how can we possibly be adopted by the _two men_ who stopped by the _orphanage_ who took us—took us to our new home?”

“Okay, ha ha, Tommy.” Tony ruffled up his hair in defeat. “So the secret’s out.”

“Okay, Dad. So why are we here?”

“What, you don’t miss your old man?”

“ _Dad._ Just tell us.”

“I’m—” Tony played with his hands a bit, avoiding his sons’ gazes. He closed his eyes. “I’m seeing someone.”

Billy and Tommy looked on.

“Wait, that’s it?” Another punch to the shoulder.

Tony should really tell Billy to stop punching his brother.

“That’s great, Dad! Who’s the lucky guy?” Billy pulled Tony into a brief hug.

“Remind me again how old you boys are.” It was almost a whisper. He might just crumble if his voice had been any louder.

“Dad, we’re old enough to be _chill_ with you dating again, okay?”

“No, I know. It’s just. You boys are… and he’s…” Tony didn’t—couldn’t—finish the rest of his sentence as Billy and Tommy made knowing faces at him. He could almost hear the click when they finally understood.

“ _Please,_ don’t tell me he’s younger than us,” Tommy pleaded. “Oh my God, is he gonna be our new _Papa?”_

“No!” A little too quickly, again. “Um. Not really? I—I don’t know. B-but. He’s older than you, just… just not by too much. I guess. Ah—fu—shit—Oh, God. Oh, no. Tell me I’m not making a mistake.”

“Dad,” Billy said. “Dad, it’s okay.” His expression softened then. He gave Tommy a look, which prompted the boy’s features to be gentle. Not through fear, but through understanding.

“What’s his name?” Tommy asked, a little too stiffly but he was trying his best to smile.

“He’s 27.”

“He’s as old as Teddy?!” Billy shrieked.

“ _Crap. Craaaaaap._ ” He shut his eyes tight and kept them that way. “This is a mistake. This is a mistake, and I never should’ve done that. I just. Oh god. Should’ve kept this a secret—no! Should’ve never dated him in the first place. Boys? Oh God, my sons just left me. No. _Nononono._ I never should’ve—”

“Dad!” Tommy took his arm and shook him, prompting Tony to open an eye and peek. “Dad, we’re still here. Why don’t we sit down?”

They guided Tony towards the bench and took the spots beside him. Billy rubbed Tony’s back, while Tommy just held his hand. It was shaking, but just a little bit.

Tony was proud of his self-control.

“Steve,” Tony whispered and smiled. He may have forced it, but he didn’t care. “His name is Steve if you still wanted to know. But I will put you, boys, first. If this doesn’t make you happy—if you’re too uncomfortable or whatever. I’ll always put you first. So…"

 _This was for the sake of his sons_ , he reminded himself. His sons were the priority. There was no need to freak them out now. No need to pursue what would make his sons unhappy.  

“Steve,” Tommy repeated, testing out his name the way people test out cake flavors. “Good name."

He perked up. “Really?” His voice might have been too high pitched for a 40-year-old man, but he chose to ignore that.

“Yeah, Dad.” The smile on Tommy’s face reached his eyes now. “Yeah, it is.”

“And you seem to really like him, too,” Billy said.

Curse his clever, clever boys.

“I do. I really do. And— _crap—_ I really didn’t mean to hide this from you for such a long time—I mean. Ah _no._ Don’t look at me like—ugh, fine. We might have dating foooor—I guess—um, about six, seven months? Yeah, seven months.” A year actually, if one counted all the pining, but never mind that.

“Wow, this is worse than I thought,” Tommy said.

“Tommy!” Billy exclaimed just as Tony hid his face behind his gloved hands.

“That was sarcasm, Dad,” Tommy said with a hitch in his voice. “No really, it is. I just—it was a joke because y’know. You’re actually _in_ to this guy, which is—ah I don’t know. I’m gonna stop.”

“What Tommy means to say is, Dad. Look at me. You’ve put us first for far too long, you’ve forgotten yourself. We’re 24 now, Dad. I’m about to get _married_. You don’t have to look out for us anymore. We don’t want you to do that—”

“Wait, we don’t?”

“Tommy, zip it. As I was _saying._ We don’t want you to keep on putting us first if it means you’re going to forget yourself along the way. We don’t want that for you. You deserve to be happy, too.”

There were a lot of reasons why Tony dreaded heart to heart conversations. Sometimes, they can get a bit too emotional, something he tried to avoid. Emotions showed too much of him, too much of his thought process, too much of his heart. Not to mention he’s pretty shit at trying to convey what he really means to people, especially to those he cared about most. Misunderstandings can be brutal, and that’s from years of experience.

But his sons always seemed to give the opposite effect on him. Sure, it’s still be emotional, and Tommy’s sudden exclamation almost gave him a heart attack, but in the end, there’s a warm feeling in his chest that he never wanted to disappear. The conversations never turned into misunderstandings. At least, not for a long time.

“I want you to remember that I love you. You boys saved me. You’re my heroes, and I love you.”

“Y’know, Dad?” Tommy leaned back, voice nonchalant and eyes looking straight ahead towards the path they were taking. “The moment you walked in the orphanage, I knew things were gonna change for us. I think it was the sun behind you that gave that effect, but I thought, _wow._ I told Billy that you’re like the superhero that we’re told about before bedtime. Of course, my nerd brother agreed, so that’s been established pretty early in our lives. So yeah. No matter what you wanna say about us saving your life or whatever, that’s nowhere near the way you saved us.  You’re _our_ hero, Dad. You’ll _always_ be our hero, and if our hero finds a partner that suits him, who are we to tell you how to save the world?”

No matter how much Tony hated to cry or no matter how much he promised himself he wouldn’t, he ended up crying anyway.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hope you guys enjoyed that! kudos are appreciated and comments are always and will forever be welcome. also i have tumblr if you wanna say hi. im jacobbyyy. that's like jacobby but with three y's.


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